Picnics with Yusuf..

Fridays were our Sundays. Our mums had the idea of setting up an outdoor picnic for us. We used our white plastic round table and chairs on the lawn.. There were packets of chips, and Coke and candy and all the unhealthy junk that kids swear by. It was the middle of the desert but funnily enough I don't ever remember feeling the heat in my 5 years in Al-Khobar. Me, Ujwala, Tejas, Rachna, Lakshmi and this Arab looking kid who i recall being named Yusuf used to sit around. I think we even had a beach ball to add to the picnic-iness of the atmosphere..
That was the essence of my life in Saudi Arabia.. It made me experience the best bit of being a child.. friends that doubled up as sisters. Parties, Parks, Skater-Barbie, free Tazos, chicken flavored chips, lots and lots of space..
In a lot of ways I'm really happy I didn't spend my adolescence in Saudi - infact I wonder if i would've grown up to be a completely different person if i had - but special circumstances make me wonder..what if... We would have lot more money than we do now that's obvious. I would most likely be obese. Nitin might or might not be in the picture..And I'd probably have done an engineering degree and I'd be doing my Masters somewhere in the US of A probably... quite probably I'd be doing well..might even have fooled myself into thinking that's what I want to do..
Does Everything happen for a reason? or are our lives just a chain of coincidences?